Axis: Take Down This Deceptive Commercial

Axis' puzzling marketing campaign continues, reaching a new low.

Check out this commercial:

UPDATE Feb 2016: After publication of a follow up post - Avigilon Trumps Axis' Deceptive Ad With A Real One, Axis removed the commercial and replaced it with one that has a disclosure at the end of the video:

It is good that Axis has done so finally, but disappointing it took them nearly two months, finally motivated by a comparison to a competitor.

The commercial switches back and forth between showing an Axis 4K PTZ and a Norwegian figure skater, with the PTZ moving to mimic the skater. The conclusion is a picture of the Axis 4K PTZ, with the name of the camera and the declaration "Capture every movement in 4K resolution."

Many people mistakenly believe that this is showing footage from an Axis camera, e.g.:

[link no longer available]

An experienced professional knows that the video is not from any surveillance PTZ, 4K or otherwise; the smoothness of the panning and zooming plus the numerous angles the video is shot from is not consistent with how PTZs operate. Indeed, at the very bottom of the YouTube text description (but not in the video itself), Axis has added "Note: the film is not filmed by AXIS Q6128-E."

The Laws Against Deceptive Advertising

Most Western countries have laws in place to stop deceptive advertising (e.g., the US FTC Truth in Advertising regulations, UK's ASA's misleading advertising regulations, Australia's ACCC's false of misleading claims.). This commercial is an extreme form of misleading illustration as Axis portrays the video to be coming from their camera, when it is not.

Like Arecont and Avigilon

Axis joins an ignominious group. In 2012, Arecont ran an ad for one of their cameras, with the label 'actual image', only to bizarrely declare they only meant it was an 'actual image, not an 'actual image' from their own camera. Instead of simply fixing it immediately, Arecont first threatened to sue us. Months later, Avigilon ran a homepage comparison of 'analog vs Avigilon' where they falsely portrayed the image being from an Avigilon camera. Later, both removed the deceptive advertising.

Axis Even Worse

The fact that Axis produced a whole commercial, though, is a step beyond a single picture. The repeated cutting back and forth between the skater and the Axis camera hammers home the false connection between the video and the Axis camera. 

4K Over Marketing 

Unfortunately for the industry, this is just one of a series of misleading, oversold claims from a variety of manufacturers for their 4K cameras as examples from Avigilon, Panasonic and Sony show in this recent IPVM discussion.

Marketing Campaign

Over the last year, Axis' marketing has become progressively more bizarre. Indeed, just a day before the PTZ commercial, Axis released a strange interview with kids, somehow trying to have children validate 'cameras that can see in the dark.' And there was the misleading indestructible Axis video game from a few months ago.

Axis is investing quite a lot of money into marketing that is misleading and puzzling.

Canon Aftermath / Chinese Race to the Bottom

It is hard to criticize Axis overall since they pulled off the most brilliant deal in the surveillance industry perhaps ever, fooling Canon into paying a 50% premium for them right as the Chinese manufacturers were ramping up the destructive race to the bottom.

On the other hand, it is hard to understand what meaningful strategy Axis has, but even if this is now Canon's problem, Axis should at least refrain from releasing deceptive advertising.

Axis, take down this commercial, you are better than that.